The long tailed duck is best observed with a scope on S side of Snake River by walking across the Guffey Bridge, look towards the Island to find it with goldeneyes. It dives frequently surfacing fairly close to its dive spot, occasionally it will fly up river to the head/point of the island, whereupon it lets the currents carry it back down river to the goldeneyes, feeding along the way. Photo 1/19/20,Image, by Marty Marzinelli
Good Luck!
Rich, Nampa
Hooray for the birds! Sometimes they show up just when we need them.
Last week, on one marvelous day, I had great looks at a Virginia Rail and a Sora side by side at the same time! What a thrill! To top that, later in the day a Northern Parula hung around near a sap well gaining nourishment and providing birders with fantastic looks and photo ops. Obviously, not in Boise.
While I don’t have Mountain Chickadees or Townsend’s Solitaires (I wish I did), I did get some new arrivals when first one, and then five, Pine Siskins showed up at my feeders. They were accompanied by several Lesser Goldfinches, which have been missing for a couple of weeks. And today they were accompanied by an American Goldfinch, another bird that has been in short supply. And my thistle feeder, which hasn’t needed a refill in weeks, is suddenly being depleted. (I was beginning to think it was something I said).
Thanks to the recent arrivals, and lots of ducks, including Canvasbacks at Les Bois track’s infield pond, my tally for today was 42 birds in just under 11 miles. Plus, we’ve started to hear W. Screech Owls on our evening walks, so the number could still rise. (I hope so).
Tom McCabe, Boise
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
